Good luck for the last day day Norbs, sounds like really ordinary weather expected, rain, easing to showers. 40kmh westerly winds-at least it will be tail wind but wouldn't like the blustery conditions. Looks no fun out there!

With the wife in Sydney with one of the kids and the other with my mum in Canberra I had the opportunity for a bit of an extended commute this afternoon. Decided to take the 29er and do a bit of a Blackbutt Exploration. Blackbutt Reserve is a pocket of bushland in the Shellharbour area that has a shared path running along the north eastern side, some firetrail/ ranger access roads, some legitimate tracks as well as some extra tracks that people have added illegally. While you're not supposed to ride on the added tracks there's no signage to let you know whether the track you're entering is legitimate or not so I have no idea what parts of my ride were on which other than some of the obvious ones like where the rangers had installed some copper logs as steps. I've been in the reserve both on bike and foot a few times and am still in exploration mode with so many options of tracks to take and only a couple of them starting to become familiar. The single track winds it's way all through the bush, crossing other paths at various places and coming out onto the open grassland or access roads in places. The firetrails are all fairly good condition so make for reasonably easy riding on the 29er, actually most would be good enough to ride the roadie on with a little care. The single track varies from some sweet flowing sections to more technical sections with log rolls, rocks, steps and a couple of steep pitches. There's also some jumps that have been built for the more daring (not for me yet).

So there's a good mix of stuff in there and with so many options to take it's a good place for some exploring and working out which way to join up tracks for the best ride. It's a good workout in there too since there doesn't seam to be much that's flat. I rode 9km within the reserve and climbed and descended 255m. Heading into the first sections of single track it didn't take long to hear some of the wildlife about as the sounds of creatures in the bushes beside the path where coommon. It wasn't until I emerged into the grasslands for the first time that I first saw any as this puncture hazard was crossing my path..

There was also a variety of birds and some flying foxes spotted along the way. I didn't stop for many photos along the way as I was usually doing one of working hard to get up a section of climb, concentrating so as to stay on the bike for some of the technical stuff or sweeping though the flowing bits, each of those enjoyable in their own way. I did decide to stop at one point to get a photo of the power easement that cuts through the middle of the reserve. It's give a bit of an idea of what the terrain is like..

I did manage to have one small off as my shoulder was brushing through what I thought was just a bit of leaves at the end of the branch turned out to be concealing a more substantial branch that had been cut off. Bouncing of that send me straight to the outside of the track and trying to ease back around the corner as my outside pedal comes to a stop on a log marking the outside edge of the turn. From there it's a slow fall over that log and into the bushes and thankfully apart from a couple of light scratches to my arm both me and the bike are ok.

Not long after that I took a photo of one of the too tricky for me to try bits of single track where there was a steep rocky section. Checking the phone later I was disappointed to find nothing more than a brown blur for that one. It was the only photo I'd stopped to take of the single track as well. A bit further on I stopped at a section where it opened up to a few jump options. These where all high speed jumps and not something I'm ready to try just yet so I put the bike up against one of the ramps to take this shot..I'm pretty sure the bike is leaning up against a landing ramp, the jump ramp for it is just out of shot. In the foreground was a small jump that looked much more tempting until I realised it would need just as much speed to clear the distance. Would be pretty cool to get out here and watch the guys who actually ride over them.

Congratulations to norbs, MM and the the others out there well ahead of their targets.

I had a poor month of 309k's largely due to over two weeks off the bike while on holidays in WA but managed to knock out a 82k ride this week in preparation for the Bris to Gold Coast on Oct 7.Total YTD is 4471 which is a few k's below target but around 500k more than the same time last year. Gotta get rid or that dirty brown bar which hopefully will be sorted over the next couple of weeks.

Three quarters of the way through the year and I seem to be going fine, got some distance on the red triangle but not quite 700KMs for September.

I seem to be able to hold off Celesteboy quite well this year, Coffee and Wine seems to be doing a lot of KMs but I have a decent lead and Mr Mugglechops has fallen off a bit of late. But I was close to Marinmomma last year from memory, now she's off somewhere over the horizon. You certainly seem to be doing more Ks this year. Might be off to the 10K club for you. Can't see myself moving out of here, 6K is plenty for me. Still hoping to get close to 7K though, didn't quite make it last year.

DavidS wrote:But I was close to Marinmomma last year from memory, now she's off somewhere over the horizon

She has certainly picked things up this year. I remember being in that battle mid year along with you and celesteboy. Managed to pull away in the end but this year despite being a little ahead of where I was this time last year she has left me in her dust.

Finished my September off with a ride with the neighbours this morning. Pretty windy conditions meant that what was meant to be an easy cruise turned into a fair workout. The ride around the lake is one of my flatter rides but it did enough to get me over the 6000m of climbing with a couple of hundred metres to spare. Next month as the warmer weather will see more riding with the family it will be a challenge to keep it up but I will be aiming to achieve my 12th straight month of 6000+.

As for distance I lost a little of my buffer on the triangle this month with 541.9km ridden but that still keeps me on target for my best year yet. After uploading this mornings ride I realised I come up just short of making the 6000 mark this month with Strava telling me I'm at 5991.8km for the year. Tempting to get out for another short one to get me over the line but with other things to do I'm not sure I'll get the chance.

DavidS wrote:Three quarters of the way through the year and I seem to be going fine, got some distance on the red triangle but not quite 700KMs for September.

I seem to be able to hold off Celesteboy quite well this year, Coffee and Wine seems to be doing a lot of KMs but I have a decent lead and Mr Mugglechops has fallen off a bit of late. But I was close to Marinmomma last year from memory, now she's off somewhere over the horizon.

DS

Cheers Dave, have been riding like a bat out of hell recently, yes I am in training for the 210km Around the Bay in 3 weeks but personally I think it is the new team kit!!!

Managed 104km today making a total of 900km for the month and 7533m of climbing. I had been hoping to clock up 1000 for the month but just fell short (still have 4 hours ??? )

Agreed, no chance of catching Lisa, she is long gone (great effort). Norbs is half way to the moon (also a great effort).